


The Divine Conspiracy

by Narina



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humor, M/M, Multi, Post-The Blood of Olympus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-09 14:38:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 9,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6911257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narina/pseuds/Narina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is time for a change, time for something new and it may take the campers some time to figure out ehat exactly the gods are doing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Divine Conspiracy

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted in [German](http://www.fanfiktion.de/s/568914e10004b2352eb6aad9/1/The-Divine-Conspiracy%22) by me. Most chapters are short, all of them get their titles from songs.

The light of the Olympus was weak despite the early hour. The throne room was unnaturally quiet, even though godly meetings never went by in silence. It was the day of the winter solstice after a peaceful year spent with cleaning-up operations – and now the main gods had gathered to discuss the future. 

“Shouldn’t we warn them?”

Apollo looked at his sister after that suggestion. The Olympians had made their decision; the rest of the gods would follow soon enough. “Naahh!” he said, making Hermes grin broadly.

“They will have to find out themselves,” Zeus agreed, his word being final.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to follow me on [tumblr](http://narina-vhey.tumblr.com/)  
> Also looking for a betareader, since I'm not a native speaker.


	2. The Ascent

It all started pretty harmless. He was on a mission with Michael Kahale and Lacy and even after two days, Will wondered how that combo had come to pass. Sure, they often had mixed groups – Greek and Roman demigods working together – but he had barely seen Michael since the battle one and a half years ago and Lacy had always just been Piper’s little sister. Still, it had been a nice chance to leave camp for a while, even if they were just following rumours. They’d heard about some demigods having trouble with monsters and now they were trying to find them. 

“Not a chance.” Lacy jumped back to the ground, she’d been scouting the area from a tree. Not her favourite job, but she was the lightest of them and could get higher than him or Michael. “I can’t see anything useful.”

“We should find a place to rest,” Michael suggested. He was the only one actually wearing armour, must’ve been a roman thing. “Getting through the forest will be harder oce it’s dark and the sun is about to set.”

“In one hour and six minutes,” he replied without thinking about it. His companions stared at him. “We should head to the north,” he added. It was just a feeling, but he kind of knew he’d be needed there.

“How do you know when exactly the sun will set?” Lacy walked a little behind him. The forest was mostly light, there was enough space for all of them, but she preferred to keep an eye on their backs. They passed some hiking paths but decided to stay off the roads. Will just shrugged instead of giving an answer he didn’t have. It had to have something to do with his father.

It was a long night. Will never had trouble sleeping as soon as it was night, yet he just rolled around and it wasn’t because he was uncomfortable on the ground. They’d removed the bigger stones and sticks and the wooden hut offered protection against the winter’s cold. He still lay awake, dozing from time to time and not remembering any of his dreams. 

Michael and Lacy looked like felt when they gathered for a sparse breakfast. It was astonishing they still managed to walk the entire day, considering the fact that the previous nights had been similar. The feeling of having to help someone got stronger once they were on their way again. It was easier to find the right direction and his companions didn’t complain about the way he chose. 

It was early in the afternoon when they found the demigods on a clearing, threatened by a flock of Stymphalian Birds. There were three kids, two girls around twelve were trying to protect a younger boy with some bad-looking wounds. The birds circled the area, attacking from time to time, knowing the kids wouldn’t be able to defend themselves much longer.

Lacy was the one to slowly approach the demigods while Michael drew his sword and tried to get the bird’s attention. It was impressive to see Lacy kneel down and talk in a slow, calming voice – he hadn’t known she was able to use charmspeak as well. 

The birds attacked and there was no more time to think. He was a healer, not a fighter, so he couldn’t do much except for dodging the strikes and hoping to hit something with the dagger Nico had given him. Not the best situation and Will reacted instinctively when a small flock of birds flew towards him. 

He extended his hand and murmured a few words, not even knowing where they’d come from. It simply had seemed right to use them now. Green smoke – like the Oracle’s but more poisonous and deadly- spread from him, surrounded the birds and made them fall to the ground. It was over as soon as it had begun. The clearing was filled with the still bodies of Stymphalian Birds, the strangers and Lacy stared open-mouthed and Will just looked at his hand. Michael took care of sending the birds back to Tartarus by stabbing them with his sword.

“What was that?”

Will eyed the demigods and saw three terrified faces – faces of people he’d meant to heal. They didn’t seem to be fond of him right now. He remembered the stories about his father and what Apollo had always meant. “Sickness,” he replied. “Apollo isn’t just the god of Healing and the sun. There’s also plague.”

Michael nodded and came closer after he was finished with the birds. “Impressive.”

The strangers seemed to disagree, the just stared at him with wide eyes and even backed away a little when he walked towards them. The boy leaned on the girls who seemed to be his sisters. Will couldn’t say anything about their godly parent, there were so many demigods these days that you could never be sure until the claiming. 

“He can help you,” Lacy said but she didn’t sound sure. Not even Will was convinced by it and he knew he was still able to heal those kids. Michael was able to solve the problem, he simply walked to Will and held out his arm which had a few cuts from the beaks. Will breathed deeply to calm himself, prepared for the worst case and put his hand on Michael’s arm. He was relieved to see the familiar golden glow as the wounds closed. 

It helped. The kids let him heal them, were brought into camp and safety and the situation became nothing but a story. Will still couldn’t forget what he’d done and seen, the green light and the feeling of being too powerful. Something was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a lot longer than the first. Most of the following will be relatively short and no chapter will reach the lengths of those in Project Olympus, but I hopeyou guys don't mind.


	3. Chapter 3

She was laying on something hard when she woke up. That was not an experience she had ever wanted to make. Kayla frowned, felt for the cause of her inconvenience and got tangled up in her sheets. She threw the blanket onto the floor, ignored her chuckling siblings – she couldn’t have displayed any elegance during the process – and reached into her pocket to produce a small vial. Kayla sat up on her bed, pushed her hair out of her face and stared at the object. “Eh?”

She held nectar in her hand. That belonged into the infirmary or Will’s emergency kit but certainly in the pocket of her sweatpants. It certainly hadn’t been put there by herself. 

“Was anyone here tonight?” Her siblings just shrugged or shook their heads. If anyone was responsible, she would bet on Lou Ellen or the Stoll brothers. No other person in camp would pull such a prank. 

Kayla sighed, placed the vial on her nightstand and looked to the bathroom where someone was singing in the shower. Will usually was the only one who did that, but it didn’t sound off-key enough to be her brother. Kayla got up, stretched and shooed the youngest kids out of their beds. They had yet to get used to rising with the sun. They certainly were awake, though, discussing some movies and refusing to leave the warmth of their blankets. She was second in command and couldn’t allow that – if Will wasn’t present, she just took care of his job.

She took the vial from her nightstand and placed it on Will’s – he had more use for it – before noticing some ambrosia in the other pocket. Who the Hades thought of pranks that involved putting medical equipment in other people’s pockets?

As the bathroom’s door opened, her jaw dropped. “Will?” she asked, a little confused. Not because he had once again forgotten his shirt, she was used to that happening.

“What?” He frowned before searching his clothes for a clean shirt. 

“Did you practice singing?”

“No?” He looked at her, halfway dressed and too confused to continue. “When should I have done that?” Good point. He’d been too busy for that, a lot of new campers had arrived since the winter solstice. None of them had really gotten much rest and Kayla hoped that would change now, with New Year’s done and school about to begin again.

“Did you listen to the radio?” Austin was fully dressed and still sat on his bunk, a guitar on his lap and a curious look on his face.

“Why would I do that?” Will had managed to put on his shirt, but it was inside out and Kayla couldn’t help but laugh while he muttered a few curses.

“Sounded like it,” she said. “Did you have Nico over? Does he sing during sex?” She wasn’t prepared to be hit with three pillows at once. The one from Will she understood. A few people complained about the pictures in their heads her comment had produced, so she guessed she deserved the other pillows as well. 

“Kayla!” Will didn’t seem too happy with her, but his voice was muffled by the fabric of his shirt. How long could one person possibly fight with a piece of clothing? Was he this clumsy when undressing his boyfriend? “I sang, I always do. What’s your problem?”

“You _can_ sing all of a sudden. You used to sound like a dying cat.”

“That’s not a nice comparison,” her brother, Finn, commented from his corner. “The poor cats.”

Kayla laughed along with her siblings and even Will couldn’t help but smile. He knew how they meant it and he loved teasing them as well. 

“Are you sure everything’s alright with your ears?” he asked when everyone had calmed down and Kayla was sitting on her mattress. “And why is there nectar on my nightstand?”

“Yes, I am and I put it there.” She grabbed her brush and began trying to untangle her hair. It was easier than usual – she had Apollo’s curls and usually they were barely tameable. 

“And why would you do that?” Will still seemed sceptical. 

“It somehow ended up in my pockets.” She cursed when she reached a knot in her hair. “Don’t ask me, I have no idea, just figures you have more use for it.”

Will just shrugged and put it into the emergency kit under his bed. Their siblings rushed through the cabin, getting ready for breakfast and the day. Kayla told herself to go and ask the Stolls, they were a more likely candidate than Lou Ellen. Her girlfriend would choose other pranks.

The morning seemed to be colder than usual. Kayla chose the end closest to the fire and smiled as Lou Ellen got onto the bench next to her. Nobody complained about that, not during the winter. The camp was crowded, but not as much as during the summer, so Chiron just smiled knowingly and let them do what they wanted during the meals. 

Kayla eyed the three new kids wearily, she still wasn’t sure what to think of them. Will and Lacy had brought them in two days ago and their godly parent was still unknown. That used to happen a lot, but not since the battle of Manhattan and especially the fight with Gaia. Demigods weren’t kept in uncertainty for so long anymore. 

She sighed, got a little closer to the fire and leaned against Lou Ellen. Maybe the gods had partied too hard and were still recovering from their New Year’s hangover. Even some of the campers looked like they could use a few days in the infirmary, Kayla didn’t want to think about what gods could drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't promise to keep up with the daily updates, but I'm currently procrastinating the editing of my book, so my focus is here. Sort of.


	4. Increase Blue

After the movie, Percy was so euphoric he almost forgot his jacket. Annabeth handed it over to him and he smiled thankfully, not wanting to walk around in the cold winter air without it.

It was early January and they had planned on visiting the camp, but first they had a few days for themselves. His mom and Paul had taken a spontaneous vacation, for reasons he didn’t understand or ask. It gave him time alone with Annabeth, so he wouldn’t complain. 

Right now, they were walking through Central Park, having watched the latest Star Wars movie and looking for a McDonald’s. It wasn’t exactly a classic date ending, but it would have to do with their budget. After all, they still had to pay for school. 

Something rustled in the branches of a nearby tree and they both turned abruptly, their weapons at hand. They had fought too often to not expect a thread. It wasn’t one, just an owl fluttering from a twig and landing on Annabeths shoulder. Percy let go of her hand and took a step back, startled by the bird’s sudden appearance. 

Annabeth laughed, pet the owl’s head and ignored that this animal shouldn’t be here in the middle of the day. Now that it was sitting still, Percy could see it was a little owl, known as a symbol of Athena. How fitting. It certainly went well with Annabeth, but he felt uneasy with the bird just staring at him.  
“Annabeth …,” he began, not sure how to word the sentence. 

“Isn’t she cute?”

“I feel like being watched.” The owl still stared at him from its big eyes. “Shouldn’t it be asleep?”

“Maybe it’s a message from my mother,” she considered. He knew her well enough to notice the hopefulness in her voice. It had been two weeks since anyone heard anything from any of the gods and according to rumours there were unannounced kids in Camp Half-Blood. 

The owl didn’t seem to carry a message. It enjoyed the gentle strokes for a while and then disappeared into the branches of the tree. Percy was relieved – he didn’t like being watched like that. It always reminded him of Athena in the beginning.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed Annabeth’s hand and squeezed it slightly. She smiled at him and they had no further trouble finding a McDonald’s. It was early enough for the room to be mostly empty and he let Annabeth find a table while he ordered their meals. Coke, Fries and Cheeseburgers – it was a wonder he didn’t accidently drop anything on his way back to his girlfriend. 

Fighting monsters, saving the world? No problem. Waitressing? Please don’t. As he sat across from Annabeth, he gave his coke a confused look.

“Why is it blue?” Not that he minded, but he doubted they served that here. So far, he had to go to camp to drink blue coke.

“So was the Popcorn.”

He paused in his movement, the burger halfway between the plate and his mouth. “Really?” He hadn’t noticed, but then again, he had focused on the movie and Annabeth. 

Annabeth nodded. “Same with the coke there. I thought you knew.”

He shook his head, took a bite from the burger and thought about it. “It wasn’t me,” he said, slowly and not entirely convinced. He _had_ wished for it, so … Percy grinned at Annabeth, who gave him a worried look, and imagined his cheeseburger turning blue. It worked. 

They both looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed anything. He hastily ate the evidence, relieved that the taste hadn’t changed with the colour. Percy leaned forward so they could speak undisturbed. 

“Since when do you have such powers?” Annabeth’s face was just centimetres from his own.  
Percy shrugged. “If only I knew. We could ask Chiron.”

“Sounds like a plan.” They continued the meal in silence and Percy couldn’t help but wonder about these powers. He had been living in this world for a long time; he thought he knew what he was capable of. Could he have been that wrong or was something at work?


	5. Great Ambition

She had planned on using the time before going back to camp to catch up on her lecture. Her courses were about to begin soon and she still had some textbooks to read- not impossible, but also not easy with her dyslexia. 

Annabeth stopped short when she closed the book about early medieval architecture in Europe and suddenly realized something. It should’ve taken her much longer to read the book, it wasn’t written in Ancient Greek and she shouldn’t have been able to get so lost in the lecture. Usually, she had to pause too often, especially when there were lots of technical terms.

Frowning, she looked around in the library. There was no one here but herself, most people probably had better placed to be in early January. She got up, ignored the chair scratching over the floor, and picked up a random book. Again, she had no trouble reading it. The letters didn’t seem to move, her brain didn’t make up any new words and it was as if her dyslexia had suddenly disappeared. 

Still confused – this wasn’t magically curable, her brain was wired for Ancient Greek, not English – she produced her phone and hastily searched something on google. Pictures of calligraphy and cursive writings popped up and Annabeth was able to read everything on the first try. What the hell happened?

She put the books back into the shelves, closed the pictures and shook her head while scrolling to Percy’s number. The looks she got as she practically ran out of the building were confused and angry and Annabeth ignored all of them, wanting to call her boyfriend.

~

The cabin leader’s meeting once again took place around the ping pong table. Annabeth had passed the job on to Malcolm, but this was about her as well, so she had joined the ground. The rest of the campers were tense and uncertain, only Chiron smiled in his wheelchair. 

“Alright, what’s going on?”

“Various things.” Will shrugged. “Small stuff, mostly, prayers aren’t being answered but that is not too uncommon.”

Annabeth nodded. Unfortunately, that wasn’t new – in this collection, though, it gave reason to worry. “I was able to read an entire book without struggling with dyslexia.”

“Don’t forget the owl.” Percy still seemed uncomfortable with this memory which she still didn’t understand. Then again, she hadn’t been stared at.

“Right.” She nodded again. “A little owl landed on my shoulder yesterday. We didn’t plan to show up until tomorrow or the day after, but we figured this was enough to call for an emergency meeting.”

“Kayla keeps finding nectar and ambrosia in her pockets,” Will added. “The Stolls claim to have nothing to do with it.”

“We don’t! Everything’s normal here.”

“And I had something as well.” Will kept talking after a sceptical look to the brothers. “When we went to find the three who still aren’t claimed, we encountered Stymphalian Birds. I basically did the exact opposite of healing, unleashed some kind of plague on them.”

She saw him and shudder, but it kind of fit. It was an aspect of his father, she just hadn’t heard of an Apollo camper being able to use it. Especially not a healer. 

“There are more rainbows around me than usual.”

“You shit them now, too?” Clarisse gestured to Butch with her knife and Annabeth fought the urge to lean away from the weapon. 

Butch glared at her. “They are just _there_.”

“Don’t fight,” Annabeth intervened before this had the chance to escalate. “We have no way of contacting our parents, right? So let’s just keep watching whatever is happening, it will make sense eventually.” She leaned back in her chair, pleased with herself as everyone agreed. The question still hung around, though – what _were_ the gods doing?


	6. Everything remains as it never was

He had left shortly after the meeting. Will still didn’t like him shadow travelling across the country on his own, but Nico knew he was strong enough and he hadn’t even passed out during the last days. Right now he was standing in front of Cerberus, wondering why there was so little traffic going on. It was as if Charon wasn’t motivated to carry the dead over the river, there were only a few souls around and they hastily backed away when Nico looked in their direction. 

Shaking his head, he made his way to the gates where he was greeted by an overly excited Cerberus who jumped up and down and licked his face with all three tongues. Nico shuddered, took a step back and scratched the middle head. He mumbled a few quiet words before wiping his face with the hem of his shirt. Good thing he had wanted to shower this evening anyways. 

In the distance, his father’s palace loomed and Nico walked towards it, ignoring the sad sounds Cerberus made. Being as big as he was, his whining sounded more like a natural disaster anyway, so it was easy to not feel guilty about leaving him behind. He was here to find answers, not to keep his father’s pet company. 

Crossing the Fields of Asphodel had never been one of his favourite tasks, too much contact with ghosts, but this time they just let him pass, even building an alley between them. He had no trouble reaching the palace and Persephone’s garden. The flowers looked miserable and withered, causing him to frown between the beds. That wasn’t like Persephone at all. 

“Welcome.”

He slowly turned around when he heard a female voice. Alecto stood there in her lawyer’s outfit and he felt like he was being examined. The other two materialized behind her, glancing curiously in his direction. What really worried him that they looked kind of friendly.

“Is my father here?”

“No.” Alecto’s smile was full of secrets, but not unkind. 

Nico sighed. He wanted answers instead of more questions, but the longer he stood here watching the dying plants, the less sure he was of finding anything useful. 

“Persephone?” he added? “Demeter?” It was winter, at least Persephone should be around. He knew Demeter came here too often to complain about the agreement made centuries ago. 

“Nobody’s here.” She spread here arms as if wanting to welcome him instead. Nico backed away and almost fell over a stone. 

“When will they be back?” _He_ wanted to get back to camp. Friendly furies were so much scarier than evil ones. 

“The palace will not be inhabited for quite some time. “ The answer was once again accompanied by a smile, then all three of them vanished into thin air. Nico stared at the place where they had stood, stared at the palace and shook his head. 

“Okay,” he muttered to himself. “ _That_ was strange.”

His return to camp was anticipated, he knew that, but he also knew that everyone wanted to hear some answers and he hadn’t gotten any of those. Olympus was shut down, his father’s palace abandoned and no other underworld deity to be found. Nico could only hope it was just some kind of fight that had resulted in radio silence, not the beginning of another big war.


	7. In mist she was standing

It was one thing to walk through town as a demigod and get attacked by a monster. That happened, Lou Ellen couldn’t blame them, they probably got bored, too. It was a different thing to sit in a coffee shop with your girlfriend and see news about an attack on a regular TC screen. 

Kayla had stopped in the middle of her sentence and stared at the screen open mouthed, Lou Ellen guessed she had a similar look on her face. It was harmless, just a hellhound being shot by an arrow, but the simple fact that a _hellhound_ was seen in mortal news was enough to freak her out. 

The news switched to the weather forecast and every other guest seemed to talk about the hellhound, throwing around different theories. Lou Ellen leaned forward and hit her head against Kayla’s, who’d had the same idea. Cursing, she leaned back a little and rubbed her forehead, but remained close enough to her girlfriend so they could speak undisturbed. 

“The mist should cover that up!”

“I know!” Kayla seemed concerned. “Why can mortals see and record that?”

Lou Ellen shook her head. “I haven’t felt the mist growing thinner.” She thought about the last days, about everything since the solstice and the general tension in camp. Nico’s visit in the underworld hadn’t brought any new clues and, if anything, Lou Ellen had had less trouble controlling the mist. So why should it get weaker now?

“Let’s hope this is just the one time.”

She nodded, but not even Kayla was convinced. Instead, Lou Ellen saw her shiver and grabbed her hand. “Are you alright?”

“Can we go home?”

“Sure.” She shot one last look at the screen where some cartoons were being showed, then she paid and pulled her girlfriend out of the coffee shop. Lou Ellen put an arm around Kayla to help keep her warm during their way back to camp. They seemed to need longer now, not because of monsters, but because something was off. The streets were empty, almost too empty.

Lou Ellen kept her concerns to herself. She didn’t need to worry Kayla any more, though her girlfriend finally seemed to relax when they crossed the border to Camp Half-Blood. Kayla was the first to enter the pavilion, Lou Ellen got distracted by her younger sisters fighting. She broke that up, wanting to follow her girlfriend. It wasn’t time for dinner, but they had spent a lot of time there lately. The warmth of the fire was nice. 

“Behave!” she told her sisters after confiscating a few magical items and putting them in her own pockets. They might be useful, just not in the wrong hands.

Kayla sat close to the fire, just as Lou Ellen had expected. She had a lyre on her lap and played, lost in her thoughts. Lou Ellen made no sound as she sat down next to her and listened to the music, glad for this chance to relax. No matter what happened, being next to Kayla always calmed her down.


	8. The winner takes it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, this was meant to be posted way earlier, I just got caught up with a huge Star Wars projekt. And by huge I mean too fucking huge, we probably need immortality to finish that.

“Kahale!”

He resisted the urge to helplessly throw his arms into the air. Of yourse, he could understand the other’s frustration, but it wasn’t like he had planned all of this.

“It’s not my fault!” he defended himself, but part of the people present still eyed him warily. Some of them had always supported Octavian and still met him with distrust because he had survived without giving away details on the Augur’s death. 

“You’re playing with loaded dice.”

Michael rolled his eyes and looked at the person accusing him. They had just wanted to shorten their watch, no one had planned to fight. It wasn’t his fault that he won every round and the – admittedly small – pool went entirely to him. “They’re your dice, Kevin.”

“Oh.”

“Could we keep going, then?” Dakota looked as if the game was the only thing keeping him awake. Michael himself felt very awake, even more than on that trip with Will Solace and Lacy. He didn’t say anything as Kevin pulled the Chips over to him. He was the highest ranking Officer here, but he didn’t feel like eating anything. 

He won the next round, too. Michael had no idea why that kept happening, he wasn’t even paying close attention or putting any effort into the game. Half of the time, he was busy watching his surroundings, even though there wasn’t a lot going on. Hannibal ran across the field, chased by two dark figures trying to get the elephant back into his stable. There seemed to be a party in New Rome, but all in all it was a quiet night and he didn’t envy the people standing guard in front of the tunnel.

“It’s not fair!” Kevin complained as Michael added the price to his pool. He wouldn’t dare report anything, the game wasn’t exactly legal and someone like Kevin, constantly watched because of his sympathies for Octavian, wouldn’t want to get on Frank’s or Reyna’s bad side.

Michael watched the field and the people failing to catch the elephant while he listened to his fellow guards talking about everything and nothing. He wondered if anyone would think of waking up Frank to get Hannibal to cooperate – or if they were too scared of Hazel to try that.

“We play with other dice!” Kevin had his arms crossed and still didn’t look impressive at all. Michael knew he wouldn’t even break a sweat in a fight, so the threat was meaningless and he just shrugged at the suggestion.

“Whatever.”

Of course, changing the dice didn’t change anything else. Of course, he kept winning every round and of course he was as irritated as the others. There was no logical explanation and his mother couldn’t have anything to do with it. As long as he knew, the gods were still silent. Reyna had announced she would talk to Chiron and the Greeks in the morning, hoping to find some clarity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still looking for a beta reader, btw. Feel free to contact me here or on [tumblr](http://narina-vhey.tumblr.com/)


	9. Dazed and Confused

A knock on the door pulled her out of dreams of the sea. They hadn’t been nightmares and that was a rare thing, so she growled sullenly and raised her head as the door opened with a creaking sound. 

“What?” she asked, harsher than she’d meant to. It could be Leo or Calypso or both of them, they had spent a lot of time in Camp Jupiter after their journey and they had both shown up in the middle of the night more than once. 

“We need help”, came the hesitant answer and Hazel didn’t know the voice. Or maybe she did and was too tired to recognize it. It wasn’t one of her friends, so it wasn’t anyone with the right to bother her at this time. “Hannibal escaped”, the unwanted guest continued. “We need Preator Zhang to catch him.”

“No.” Hazel knew she was being impolite, but if Frank left now, it would take some time for him to return and she could forget about restful sleep tonight. 

“But …” 

“No!” she repeated, louder and more vigorous while sitting up a little. She was glad to wear a shirt and she now realized that her visitors actually were some of the newer campers. They also seemed afraid of her and that pleased her. She moved her hand, raised a wall between the bed and the door and fell back down to the mattress to snuggle up to her boyfriend. 

He had actually managed to sleep through all of this. Hazel pushed a few strands of her hair out of the way, smiled and moved closer to him to catch some more hours of sleep before dawn. 

~

A startled outcry from Frank woke her some time later and she suddenly remembered that she had never taken down the wall. Hazel blinked and moved slowly, the bed next to her was still warm so he couldn’t have been up for long. 

“What is that?” she heard him ask, causing her to frown and sit up. Wasn’t it obvious?

“A wa…,” she started, interrupting herself as she saw what he had seen. “Oh.” Between her and the door wasn’t stone, not even precious metal or something like that. Between her and the door was … “A wall?” she started again, hesitantly. “Of … pomegranate?”

Frank nodded, stretched out his hand and pulled it back suddenly, as if the plants would burn his skin. “Why?”

“Somebody was here last night. They wanted something.” Hazel pushed away the covers, got out of bed and slowly moved to Frank. “I wanted to lock them out with magic, but …” She shook her head and carefully touched the twigs. Since when had she been able to do such things? Hazel hesitated, then she concentrated and the wall actually disappeared. Nothing but a single fruit on the floor remained and Frank picked that up. 

“We should hurry,” he suggested. “Reyna wants us to be present when talking to the Greeks.”


	10. Where is your God?

It had been an exhausting week, full of unofficial war councils and many talks with the Romans who had had almost as many strange happenings as the Greeks. Percy felt like he had spent half the week in various meetings while things around them descended into chaos. People discovered unknown talents, cabins were accidently set to fire, fights escalated more quickly and to be honest, he just wanted to sleep, preferably with Annabeth resting next to him. 

For now, though, there was dinner in camp and a last get together before many younger campers would return home to their families or schools. A little sullen, he walked through the falling snow, pushed his hands into his pockets … and paused. Percy blinked once, twice, then he raised his head and frowned. He was right between the cabins, a little way from the dinner pavilion, but in the middle of the camp. And it was _snowing_. That shouldn’t have been possible.

“Has anyone seen Mr. D?” he asked, as soon as he reached the pavilion. The other campers, more or less busy with dinner, shot him questioning looks. 

“What?” Will seemed confused, massacred his dinner with the fork and didn’t seem to follow. “Why?”

“It’s snowing.” He sat down next to Jason on the bench. “Inside the camp.”

“Oh.” It was silent for just one moment, then everyone seemed to talk at once. Percy didn’t even try to listen to everyone, it was obvious what they were talking about. No one had seen Dionysos these past weeks and when he looked over to Chiron, he saw a knowing grin on the centaur’s face. 

“Huh.” He turned his head when he heard Jason and he was surprised to see his friend staring at the pizza with a confused impression in his eyes.

“What’s up?”

“Did I make an offer to the gods?”

Percy glanced over to the fire, where Kayla was currently sitting, and shrugged. “How should I know? You got here first.”

“Right.” Jason sighed and seemed as if he was about to fall over and sleep with his face in the pizza. Percy wondered what Piper would say about that. “I think I already sacrificed something, but the pizza is still whole, so …” He raised his arms and let them fall back down. “Whatever.”

“Are you alright?”

“Just busy with the shrines. And radio silence keeps confusing use, we don’t know, what to do with it.”

Percy nodded slowly before turning his focus to his own dinner. Forgotten the fact that both of them had wanted to make a sacrifice to the gods. It wasn’t as if that would do anything good right now. The gods didn’t react to anything.

“It’s strange,” he agreed with Jason. Nico, who usually sat with them, was nowhere to be seen. He was probably in the underworld, again, he spent a lot of time down there lately, trying to figure out what was going on.

“As long as no other prophecies keep showing up.” Jason didn’t seem to have much of an appetite and Percy could relate. He didn’t feel like eating, either. “I just want to live a quiet life.”

“Yeah.” Percy looked over to Annabeth who sat among her siblings. He wouldn’t mind peace and quiet, one and a half years after the Battle with Gaia, he had gotten used to this kind of life.


	11. Sacrament of Wilderness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, I was busy writing prose stuff and I didn't get to this work at all. But my motivation seems to be back, so here we are.

“Yo, man!” She heard a voice in front of her window and resisted the urge to hide her face under the pillow. “My nuts are so much bigger than yours!”

“Not true, dude!”

Iraia turned her head, blinked and felt the headache rushing over her like a wave. “Fuck,” she mumbled, not able to ignore the conversation outside any longer. What time was it? And why were there teenagers with strange discussions outside of her house? 

“Sure, man, look!”

She got up, ignored the dizziness and stared at the opposite wall in confusion. What the hell was going on out there? There were two voices, both of them male and with a terrible slang and the owners of said voices just kept arguing about the size of their nuts. Iraia shot a look to the clock, groaned and rolled her eyes, before leaving the bed and walking over to the window. 

“It’s half past six, what is wrong with you?!” It took her a moment to realize the street was empty. The only living beings were two squirrels in the tree, one of them dropped the hazelnut it had between its teeth. 

“Dude, the hell are you lookin’ at?” it asked, definitely in her direction. She couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed and hastily closing the window. Iraia pulled the curtains shut, turned around and fell down to the floor with her back to the wall. Squirrels. Talking squirrels that she still heard, but that were getting quieter. 

Groaning, she got up again and grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand. She’d wake Karim, but she had other worries than a tired best friend. It was still hard to focus her view on the screen, she definitely hadn’t had enough sleep or time to sober up. 

“What?” Karim was hard to understand, but the fact that he picked up the phone after just a few seconds was a good sign. She regretted having to disturb him, but she needed some clearance right now. 

“Did I take anything yesterday?”

From his side of the call, she heard a sigh and the shuffling of blankets as he turned around. “Lots of alcohol?” he suggested.

“No, anything else.” Alcohol alone couldn’t explain why she heard squirrels talking. 

“I don’t think so.” Karim yawned. “I drove you home, but I didn’t watch you the entire time. You just seemed really drunk.”

“Still am.” She should get back to bed and forget about this. It was probably just alcohol and the lack of sleep playing tricks. “Thanks. And sorry for annoying you so early.” At least she remembered to be polite before crawling back under the covers. She would forget about this soon.

~

She did not forget about it. The squirrels had only been the beginning, since then, she had sometimes been in Central Park, squirrels and birds in her lap an on her shoulders and with no memory how that had happened. She had listened to a lot of conversations held between animals, only to realize that pigeons were the ones running around screaming “mine, mine, mine!” – gulls, on the other hand, talked like old sailors in dubious bars. 

And now her parents had invited her to a family day at the zoo. She didn’t mind spending time with her relatives, but why did it have to be a zoo? Iraia stood behind her younger brother and frowned at the compounds, forcing herself to not lecture everyone on housing conditions of animals. Wherever that came from – sure, she had never been a fan of wild animals in captivity, but she also had never cared that much. It was about time her semester began, she really needed a distraction from all this madness. 

The stream of oddities did not end. She saw a man with a baseball cap standing in front of a cage, talking to the tiger locked in there. Her little brother just asked why the man was making such strange noises and her parents decided he was crazy. They pulled her and her brother further along, but she couldn’t help wondering if maybe she wasn’t the only one going crazy. The guy eyed her warily and her family didn’t leave her any more time to investigate.

She understood everything the animals were saying. She wanted to help said animals and she really wanted to know what was going on with her. This couldn’t be healthy – though things got even stranger when her family disappeared to the playground and left her to the reptiles. She turned her attention towards the snakes that were being held in ridiculously small terrariums. 

A young woman her age was standing in front of a Black Mamba, seemingly talking to the snake. The stranger had her hair styled into a colourful Mohawk and showed several piercings, making Iraia like her at once. She decided to not ask any more questions, instead stepped forward, stood next to the woman and extended her hand towards the snake. The Mamba seemed to enjoy the attention, though that was hard to tell with a snake. 

Only the startled yelp of someone else and the sound of a bucket dropped to the floor pulled her back into reality. Two young women in noticeable clothes – torn pants and a leather jacket for the one, army pants and a black shirt for the other – petting a dangerous snake. Add to that the missing glass and you have your perfectly strange situation.

“Stay calm.” The panicked zookeeper tried to get their attention and Iraia couldn’t supress a grin. “No sudden movements.”

“Aw, it’s not doing anything.”

The zookeeper paused in a shock, Iraia laughed and the stranger kept petting the animal on her arm. “Miss, please”, the zookeeper trief again. “Give me the snake and …” He stopped mid-sentence, noticing the missing glass. Iraia decided it was time to go. She grabbed the snake, put it back into its terrarium and hissed a warning she didn’t know she could produce. Then she grabbed the stranger’s wrist and pulled her along with her before the keeper could recover from his shock. 

Behind her, she heard him call for them, but she just ran faster, glad her new ally wasn’t resisting the escape. “Why am I never allowed to have some fun?” Iraia heard the woman complain and she frowned.

“Can we discuss that later?” She looked around in a rush, trying to find the right exit – only to discover they had already left the zoo behind. When had that happened? Iraia came to a stop so abruptly, the stranger stumbled into her. She hastily let go of her wrist and had to realize she had no idea where she was.

“Where are we?” At least she wasn’t alone in this.

Iraia shrugged. “Who are you?” she asked. That was typical for her – running away with a stranger whose name she didn’t even know. 

“Aidan.”

“I’m Iraia.” She smiled and for a short moment, they just looked at each other, breathless and laughing. Then, the guy with the cap, who had been standing in front of the tiger cage, showed up. He was limping and he’d lost his cap and were those horns sprouting from his hair?

“Follow me,” he ordered them and they exchanged one helpless look before shrugging and deciding that it couldn’t get much stranger than this.


	12. Arrow

12 – Arrow 

He usually stayed away from the shooting ranges. Everyone knew he lacked the talent and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the entire camp, but these last days had been so frustrating that he needed to let off some steam. Just a few hours ago, he had to have a talk with a satyr claiming to have met two demigods in the New York Zoo, only to lose them again in the city's streets. Then, there was the fact that many people still developed powers they shouldn't have and no one had any idea why. Chiron just smiled knowingly and refused to speak. 

Will breathed in, closed his eyes and raised bow and arrow. He should focus so as not to accidently hit anyone else. To his astonishment, the arrow hit the target, right in the middle. A few moments, he just stared at it while all the surrounding conversations slowly died. 

Had that really been him? Had someone else hit the target at the same time with his own arrow landing somewhere in the bushes? Will slowly shook his head but he didn't refuse when Kayla – wearing a thick coat and a scarf – asked him to try again. Nervously, he tried to ignore all the curious glances he got because _everyone_ seemed to have taken a break from training. 

Once again, he hit exactly the middle of his target and when he turned to the training dummies with their marks, every arrow landed where he wanted it to. Will had no idea what was happening. He had never been a good shot, unlike his siblings, why did that suddenly change? 

"Did you train secretly?" Austin laughed but Will just shook his head. Kayla seemed distracted again, looking over to the pavilion and the fire because lately, that seemed to be the only place where she wasn't cold. 

"I guess the Romans don't have any ideas, either?" 

"Not really." Annabeth had come to them, probably thinking about the changed again. "Thalia is coming over with some of the other hunters, maybe they learned something." 

"Sounds good." He fastened bow and arrow on his back, not willing to give a further show to all the people and still confused about what was happening. The hunters noticed a lot more that was going on in the world and maybe they had found something the demigods from both camps had missed so far. 

In the end, his talk with Thalia didn't bring any new results. She had had changed herself and she couldn't contact Artemis, but that was it. Will stood at the beach after the sky had darkened and didn't feel tired. He hadn't eaten that much during dinner and he had noticed many people just lazily pushing their food around on the plates. This whole thing was straining their nerves, it was about time they found out how to go back to normal. 

"I've heard about your show today." 

He turned around as Thalia appeared next to him, eyeing him carefully. She knew how bad he usually was and he understood when she didn't believe the stories. 

"If you want an explanation, I don't have one." 

She grinned slightly. "I want to see for myself." 

Will slumped a little, but he regained his composure soon enough. "I can't guarantee it'll still work", he warned her. Yet he followed her to the shooting range, now empty except for some of his siblings. Of course, the embarrassment had to happen in front of a crowd. 

Thalia gave him an encouraging nod but of course, he didn't hit anything anymore. He wasn't more nervous than before but he somehow felt as if he couldn't even see what he was shooting at. His nightvision had never been that bad and he hoped it wouldn't last. 

"I don't understand", Austin mumbled as Will threw away the bow in frustration. "Earlier, you hit everything." 

"Earlier, yeah." He shook his head. "Don't ask me, I don't know what's going on." 

He got away from further conversations when a nervous daughter of Hermes ran towards them, almost falling over her own feet. "News from the Romans", she said breathlessly. "Something about an attack. Seems to be important."


	13. A Warrior's Call

The call came in the early afternoon. It was a small matter, just a few hellhounds and an empusa, but it was enough to make Hazel wary. Hastily, she put on her armour to rush to the site, Calypso next to her. Frank and Leo were following them, discussing a topic Hazel hadn’t caught. 

She got her sword ready when she heard the fighting. Calypso disappeared to face the empusa so Hazel herself turned towards the hellhounds. Frank showed up next to her and she smiled as they fought side by side. She avoided teeth and claws and breathed deeply in relief as she gave Frank the chance to kill the monster. They didn’t bother celebrating, instead, they found the next enemies.

Hazel ducked, rolled and came to her feet again to dodge an attack. Shortly, she felt a sharp pain on her lower thigh. It wasn’t much and it wouldn’t keep her from fighting. Injuries could be taken care off once this was done. She whirled around, stabbing and striking and realizing she might’ve been more influenced by the Greek’s way of fighting than she’d thought. Of course, she guessed it would still be very roman when fighting as a legion. 

She didn’t notice the empusa’s sudden attack, just noticed a punch in the stomach and stumbled back, struggling to breath. Hazel pressed a hand to the wound, gasping for air, as she watched Calypso get rid of her enemy. The empusa turned to dust and Hazel blinked a few times to not lose her focus. 

It was over soon, the last hellhounds sent back to the underworld and Hazels friends watching her with worried eyes. Some of their voices sounded almost panicked in their discussion on how to proceed. 

“Guys,” she mumbled but no one listened. Hazel sighed. She felt fine, there was no pain even though her hand was coated in blood. She relaxed, found a more comfortable position and didn’t even feel her injury. Shaking her head, she raised the hand – and froze as she looked at it. Okay. _That_ certainly wasn’t normal. “Guys!” she repeated, finally getting their attention. 

As one, they opened their mouths to give advice or express worries and as one they stopped in the motion as Hazel showed them her palm. They gazed from the hand to the wound and back and Calypso let out a quiet “Oh”.

“Tell Reyna,” Hazel said to a group of young demigods standing close by. “This has to be our priority. We need to make contact with the other camp.”


	14. Yesterday is Dead and Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, but here I am again. I'm not going to promise regular updates, but I do promise this will get finished. Sooner or later.

“We had an attack a few hours ago. Just a small thing, but I got hit and we discovered something that was very shocking at first and not better afterwards. It explains everything, but it doesn’t make this easier.”

“The gods are gone,” Reyna took over again, taking in a deep breath. “Moved on, withdrawn, whatever. Olympus has been locked, the4 monsters are confused and quickly adapting to the new situation. It’s our job to get things back to normal.” She raised a hand before the quiet conversations could become louder. “I know how it sounds. But we cannot close our eyes and deny the truth if we don’t want the world to fall after everything we did, afert all those fights.”

Nico flinched as she suddenly drew the blade of her knife across the palm of her hand, showing it to everyone present. He faltered – and yes, it made sense. Everything that had happened. The wound was already healed, the remaining blood on skin and knife golden. 

“So …” Percy interrupted himself, cleared his throat and started again. “So we take over the job our godly parent had?”

Renya shook her head. “Not always, considering who’s present.” She seemed to look at everyone at once and no one dared to speak up. Some people maybe dreamed of this, but they probably never thought they’d get godly immortality along with all of the responsibilities. “Diana and Juno for example had no children,” Renya continued. “And while it was easy for Diana, or Artemis in our case, to name Thalia as her successor, it must’ve been harder for Juno.”

Of course, he had gotten his father’s job. It did explain why the Erinyes had been so friendly, why the souls had shown so much respect. But he hadn’t planned on spending all of his time in the underworld. Then again … “Maybe we should initiate some changes,” he said. “Generally speaking.”

Reyna nodded. “We’ll have much to do in the coming weeks and months. We’ll have to find out way into this new life and we’ll have to discover the structures we want to give it. Who has which role. How far we’ll go. Do we want to get involved in culture and politics?”

It wouldn’t be easy. He saw insecurity in many faces, but he also saw determination. For some of them, it was obvious whose role they were going to take. Percy and Annabeth would follow into their parent’s footsteps, same with Jason and Leo. He wasn’t sure about Piper and Lacy, nor about Frank and Clarisse. Michael Kahales job as still a mystery, he didn’t know the guy well enough to say that.

While everyone left, he saw Hazel smiling at him as she walked closer. He hugged her and Will went to see his own sister. Kayla was someone who wouldn’t take her father’s job – Will had gotten that – and now that he thought about it, it should’ve been obvious. The campfire had been the only place she hadn’t been cold. 

“Is the palace now ours?” Hazel smiled, but he knew her well enough to see how distressed she still was. 

“Seems like it.” He caught Reyna’s questioning look and nodded. Everything was alright as far as he was concerned. “The garden is all yours, right?”

Hazel laughed. “I guess. Shall we take a look?”


	15. The Ecstasy of Gold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this took so long. I can't promise quicker updates, but I can promise that I won't abandon this fic. I just have too many projects^^

This wasn’t his first visit to Mount Olympus but it was the first since learning about his new role and Will couldn’t help but be nervous. He wasn’t alone in this, but that didn’t make it any easier. Nico and Hazel were in the underworld but most of the people who had gathered earlier were now by his side. He didn’t know how any of this would work, but the elevator reacted to them and turned out to be big enough. Kayla had regained at least some colour, but she was still relying on Lou Ellen and couldn’t walk on her own. He didn’t know whose place she had gotten but he wanted to make sure his little sister would be okay. 

Kayla surprised everyone when she was the first to leave the elevator, growing healthier with each step she took through the darkened village of Olympus. In this moment, she actually looked like a goddess and Will was proud of her.

They followed her, looking around carefully, but the dangers that were spreading in the mortal world had not yet reached this place. The gods were gone, simple as that, nobody had forced them away from their homes and temples. 

When Kayla opened the doors to the throne room, she set off a chain reaction. Light returned, the buildings looked as beautiful as Annabeth had designed them and he even spotted a few of the older inhabitants. He let his friends explore the throne room first, distracted by a small shrine on a nearby meadow. His instincts told him that this was where he had to go first. 

Nine girls sat there, watching him closely, and he was glad they didn’t wear traditional clothing. He had been worried about feeling out of place in his simple T-Shirt. In fact, they all looked very different from each other and he didn’t know how to talk to them. 

“Uh, hi.” They grinned and he sighed. This wouldn’t be easy – they probably weren’t happy aboput his father’s sudden disappearance. “Alright. Do you want to stick with your old roles? Or can we change a few things?”

“Fuck yes!” Urania – he was glad his new powers meant knowing their names, too – jumped up before he even finished his sentence. “I like you, let’s go.”

Will smiled in relief, glad they didn’t try to send him away and find someone else for the job. He certainly had enough siblings. He just didn’t know how they would react to Urania, muse of astronomy, looking very punk – Doc Martens, torn clothes and a lot of piercings plus colourful hair was not what he had expected. He already liked her. “Any suggestions? What areas of expertise do we need?”

Terpsichore raised her hand. “Can I keep dance?” She wore one of those baseball caps that seemed to stay on the head by sheer willpower alone and her clothes looked like they came straight out of a hip hop dance video but she did all that with the grace of a classic dancer. The more time he spent with the muses, the more they impressed him. 

“Sure. Dance is important. What about Singing?”

“Me!” Polyhymnia was hard to look at because everything glittered and sparkled and changed colours. She looked like a glam rocker and someone had placed a flower crown on her head. 

This was easier than he had feared. They were all cooperating and as he talked to them, his mind automatically came up with what was needed. “Instruments?” He shoved his hands into his pockets, standing more comfortably. 

“Yes!” Euterpe fell off the wall she had been sitting on, looking more like an excited child than like a grown woman. Fixing her skirt and corset, she grinned at him. “Sorry, I got carried away. Instruments are amazing, can I have them?”

“Sure.” There was one thing they all shared, he now noticed. Different clothes, different skin colours, different preferences. But they all had the same golden eyes and of course, he should’ve expected that. Gold was Apollo’s colour, after all. “Acting? It’s more than theatre by now.”

Thalia, eye-catching because she just wore jeans and a Camp-Half-Blood T-Shirt, exchanged one quick look with Melpomene, clad in pastel colours that seemed even paler next to Euterpe’s all black outfit. They didn’t need words and Thalia was the one to raise her hand.

“Good.” He sat down on the grass, tired of being the only one standing. Apart from the occasional enthusiastic jumping, all the muses were sitting. “What else do we have? What about photography and CGI and everything like that?”

“Oh, I like that.” Melpomene smiled dreamily. “Can I have that?”

Will nodded, surprised everything worked out without fights. It also made him more excited about his future role as a god and he was optimistic, though he still had a lot to learn. “Perfect,” he said, managing not to flinch because nine muses smiling at you was a little creepy. “Shall we split Painting and visual arts?”

“Does digital art count as painting?” Erato ran a hand through her short hair, dishevelling it even more. It suited her this way, especially with the flawless designer suit as a contrast. 

“I would say so. But you can discuss the details with Melpomene.”

“Will do.” Erato nodded, patting Melpomene’s shoulder. 

“I want the visual arts,” Urania said. “Apollo always complimented my statues but he never allowed me to switch fields.” Was she pouting? It looked like it. 

“Well, you can have it now. Unless anyone wants to protest?” 

Both Clio and Calliope shook their heads and he smiled again. 

“Alright. Prose and poetry for you?”

They nodded, whispering a few words before high fiving each other. “Prose,” Clio said and judging by her looks, she had probably been the one to place a flower crown on Polyhymnia’s head. He had seen pictures from Woodstock and couldn’t rule out the possibility that she had been there. Plus, she was making more flower crowns as they spoke. 

“And I like poetry.” Will briefly wondered how many band patches she had on her jeans west but eventually decided he didn’t want to know. She also wore and Iron Maiden Tanktop, leather pants and biker boots. Nico would probably get along with her. 

“Great. I should check on my friends, but if you have any questions or suggestions, just let me know.” He got up, brushing a little dirt off his legs to head over to the throne room. They waved, then began talking too quickly for him to make out the words. He just hoped they didn’t have anything negative to say. 

His good mood held until he reached the throne room. Will stopped abruptly as he saw what was going on. He opened his mouth, unable to make any sound or actually comprehend the situation.


End file.
